Why Sela Ward won't return to television

As a divorcee on ABC’s beloved Once and Again, Sela Ward found love cute. Now she finds love hurts in the CBS ripped-from-the-headlines movie Suburban Madness (Oct. 3 at 9 p.m.). Playing private eye Bobbi Bacha, Ward investigates the case of Clara Harris, a Houston dentist who ran down her cheating husband with their Mercedes. EW talked to the 48-year-old actress about accents and her near-CSI experience. –Jennifer Armstrong

Did you have trouble getting back your native Southern drawl for the movie?

I was sitting around the table read the first day, and there must have been 10 bad accents. There’s nothing worse than a bad Southern accent — but they had a vocal coach on set, so everyone ended up doing a good job.

As a married woman, did this project bum you out?

It’s harder and harder to keep a relationship sacred. You’re hopefully not going to run over your husband, but you can relate to this woman’s pain.

You turned down CSI: Miami and Desperate Housewives because you wanted more time with your kids — is there any chance you’ll do another series?

You could put the most brilliant script in front of me, but I couldn’t do it.